Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Mr. Gu thought to himself that this Taoist priest Quan’s behavior today was really strange; even his speech was odd.
The tomb raiders were arrested by Mr. Gu’s men before they even woke up, which was an unexpected bonus. Actually, their disguise was quite clever; the people at the scene were too afraid to even consider it. These two veterans probably couldn’t even guess who reported them until they were sentenced. Professor Li, still dazed, woke up to find himself surrounded by people and seemed somewhat confused: “What happened to me?”
He only remembered that he had come to the site for exploration that morning when a student reported that there seemed to be people lying in a certain tomb. Because he was worried about the dangers in the undeveloped tomb, he stopped the students and went in to check himself. After checking, he found that the two people had only fainted and had not stopped breathing, so he helped to rescue them.
The moment he stepped out of the tomb, for some reason, he vaguely heard a distant roar from beyond the heavens. When he woke up again, he was already lying here.
What on earth happened? Professor Li found it quite mysterious.
Upon hearing his puzzled question, the kind-hearted Tuan Tuanyi immediately offered to explain but was stopped by Mr. Gu standing nearby.
Mr. Gu smiled and said, “Professor Li, there was a lack of oxygen in the tomb. You fainted for a while just now, and the checkup showed that your blood pressure was a little high. Have you not been resting well for too long?”
Professor Li: “I see.”
This was clearly not the truth. Not to mention Tuan Tuanyi, even Wei Xi glanced at him sideways. Mr. Gu gently shook his head at them: “There are some things we can’t let them know. Part of our department’s work is to resolutely implement the core socialist values.”
Wei Xi: “What?”
“Haha.” Mr. Gu felt a bit embarrassed to say this after just going through all that, so he simply took out a business card and handed it over. “However, these past few years have been a bit turbulent. If you have time, Master Wei, you can check out our featured program. Your local Taoist Association has helped us a lot. The episode before last was completed with the help of Master Quan and his Taoist temple.”
Wei Xi took a look and saw that the business card had four large characters printed on the front: “Believe in Science”.
Wei Xi asked his second apprentice, “What is this? Have you seen it before?”
Second apprentice: “…I’ve seen it.”
Not only have I seen it, but I’ve also helped with filming it before, though not in my current capacity.
Tuan Tuanyi leaned over for a look and said in surprise, “I’ve seen this program before. It was actually produced by Mr. Gu and your team?”
Mr. Gu smiled even more embarrassedly: “Please excuse my poor manners.”
“The episode before last…” Tuan Tuanyi recalled, “Oh, it was about a villager in Qingshui Village who would often wake up for no reason and find herself soaking in her own well. In the end, the show filmed four episodes, which aired for nearly two hundred minutes. The background music was really scary. In the end, the conclusion was that she would sleepwalk at night, run to the well to drink water, and lean over the edge of the well but could never reach the water, so she would accidentally fall in every time. That episode? There were a lot of articles online criticizing you guys. I read them and thought they were ridiculous.”
Mr. Gu: “…mainly because I couldn’t think of a better reason.”
Tuan Tuanyi realized something: “…So that’s not actually the reason?”
Master Quan Yongzhen spoke quietly: “There was a scapegoat in that well. It wanted to find a substitute at night. The lady of the house was most compatible with it in terms of birth date. Fortunately, she was a good swimmer and could swim instinctively even when she was asleep, which is why it never succeeded in taking her place. Later, I went to Qingshui Village to ferry that ghost away, and nothing else happened.”
“No wonder the film crew said the person involved was cured of sleepwalking after treatment. I was wondering what kind of bizarre plot it was…” Tuan Tuanyi said speechlessly, “The episode before that, where we kept hearing strange noises at night, turned out to be because the neighbor’s phone alarm was set incorrectly. The neighbor was such a good sleeper that they didn’t notice it…”
Mr. Gu: “A woman’s corpse was bricked into the wall of his house.”
“The episode where the curtains in a resident’s home suddenly opened because the curtain rod was installed crookedly and slid open…”
Mr. Gu: “He had some bad luck outside, and a ghost was trying to crawl into his house.”
Not to mention Tuan Tuanyi, even Wei Xi was stunned. This is possible? Tuan Tuanyi seemed to have opened the door to a new world, muttering, “No wonder the audience said that the first half of your show was exciting, but the second half was just ‘qnmb’ (a vulgar expression). The truth is actually like this.”
Mr. Gu sighed, “There’s no other way. In order to break down feudal superstitions, we have to use some methods. Nobody watches a serious science popularization program. But despite the criticism, the program was very effective after it aired. Many of the urban legends that were causing a stir among the people were brought under control.”
As a fellow manager, Hei Wuchang (Black Impermanence) resonated with him somewhat: “Sometimes, when the people don’t want to listen to your lectures, you really have to use some methods.”
Compared to the underworld, the mortal realm was much smarter, knowing how to use soft power to convey values. The underworld, which resorted to boiling oil at the drop of a hat, was far less effective than the mortal world’s approach of educating through entertainment.
Mr. Gu was immediately delighted to receive this approval. He still remembered the black-suited man’s ability to summon the local earth god earlier— he was quite a formidable figure! So he immediately extended an invitation: “If Mr. Hei is interested, you could collaborate with us for a few episodes in the future and serve as our art consultant. It’s everyone’s responsibility to dispel feudal superstitions among the people.”
Master Quan: “…”
He imagined the scene of Black Impermanence acting as the art director for “Believe in Science” to dispel superstition, and he felt like he was suffocating. You’re making people dispel their own superstition?
Black Impermanence didn’t seem to care. Whether the mortals believed in ghosts or not made no difference to him. He was there to seek cooperation with the government, not to make his presence known among ordinary people. He nodded and said, “If we can reach a cooperation agreement with your mortal realm one day, I will definitely do my best.”
Mr. Gu: “???”
What kind of nonsense is this? Mr. Gu said with difficulty, “Well, that’s good then. May I ask Mr. Hei’s surname? And his full name?”
Black Impermanence: “My real name is Fan Wujiu, not Hei. Black Impermanence is just a nickname given to me in the martial arts world.”
Mr. Gu: “…”
This seemingly dignified person turned out to be surprisingly childish, with names like “Black Impermanence of the mortal world” and “Jianghu Hei Wuchang” (a legendary figure associated with martial arts worlds). Mr. Gu tried his best to maintain his smile: “Ha! Ha! Really? That’s quite unique. This name is perfect for our program team.”
He also happened to have something he wanted to ask the man in the black suit for help with. After the two went out, Tuan Tuanyi was still thinking: “If we are so determined to promote the core socialist values, how will our sect’s advertisements be placed, Master?”
“It’s alright, Mr. Gu has already agreed.” Wei Xi said reassuredly, recalling Mr. Gu’s attitude earlier. “He’ll find a way to help us, right?”
Shuo Zong: “…Hmm.”
Master Quan: “…Hehe.”
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